fire comes close to bay area homes. crews battle flames and hot, dry conditions. the latest as crews remain on scene watching for hot spots. high-end shops in union square closed for business. the damage caused by flooding and hear from the people who are disappointed. air strikes and fighting intensify in the middle east. tens of thousands told to evacuate as israeli troops move into gaza. i'm terry mcsweeney. >> i'm peggy bunker. new details on a grass fire in fairfield. the fire is now contained but earlier several homes were evacuated. those people have been let back in. the fire broke out about 2:00 in a grossy area.

as the the blaze grew, nearby homes on james street were evacuated, the highway was closed in all directions. take a look at this video here into our news room. this shows the firefighters on scene of this the blaze. they were able to stop it before it spread any further. lanes of highway 12 are closed earlier in the firefight but they are all open at this time. no word on how much acreage was burned. investigators still trying to figure out how it got started. take a look outside, we have san jose here on your left. on your right, looking beautiful there, sunol grade. very dry, brown hillsides. meteorologist rob mayeda joining us now. >> we're seeing the highest temperatures right now. solano county, fairfield still 92 degrees. closer to 100 degrees inland around sacramento. it's that late-day breeze that picked up winds 15 to 20 miles an hour coupled with lowering humidity levels as high pressure builds in. it does have a hair dryer-like

effect to the air outside. really drying things out. around the central valley through the sack area, including fairfield. so we're going to have to watch out especially tomorrow as our temperatures are going to turn even hotter for monday. high pressure will strengthen as we get into the start of the work week which means 100-degree temperatures likely out towards the tri-valley tomorrow. another thing for fire danger we have to watch out for, monsoon moisture coming out of the south tuesday and wednesday. that could trigger lightning-sparked fires for the central and southern sierra as we head into tuesday, wednesday. a sneak preview of temps tomorrow, highs climbing into the 90s around san jose and towards santa rosa. temperatures closer to 100 around livermore. coming up how long this heat wave will stick around and if we'll see any showers drifting close tort bay area. a look at your seven-day forecast in a few minutes. we have more on your weather online. head to nbcbayarea.com for your complete microclimate for your specific neighborhood. nbcbayarea.com. we are following a developing story in the middle

east. thousands of palestinians have evacuated northern gaza today after being warned by the israeli military. israeli naval commandos moved into northern gaza overnight to silence a militant rocket launcher. nbc's martin fletcher reports it won't be the only inkurgs by ground troops. >> there's every sign an israeli ground invasion is becoming closer. there was one incursion by israeli troops that the army publicize the. there may well have been more by secret commando groups. a naval commando unit went into gaza in order to attack rocket-launching sites. >> we were successful in our mission. there was engagement with hamas terrorists. we had a few scrapes. nothing substantial. they had some substantial damage. >> reporter: it's rather unusual for them to announce what secret units are doing. but it certainly adds momentum to the idea that a ground invasion is about to take place. it may not be one massive invasion all happening at one time. it could be a rolling kind of

operation in the same way we've seen with this naval command dough. certainly with 38,000 troops, reserves joining the regular army maliced on the gaza border, it looked imminent. for that reason presumably israel has been warning residents in northern gaza to vakt their homes. 70,000 palestinians live in that area. about 4,000 according to the united nations have left their homes. israel says it needs to attack those places because that's where the rocket launchers are, that's where the rockets are fired from, among the civilian population. martin fletcher, nbc news, tel aviv. more dates now. a popular smartphone app has been expanded to save lives in the middle east. the social media app called yo sends a fleeting greeting to a friend. it can now warn users about missile, rocket, and more tan attacks in israel. the developers in san francisco to further expand the app services say it won't replace air raid sirens but it will spread realtime information about what's happening in

israel. thousands of dollars in damages and shoppers turned away. high-end retailers still closed after a water main break flooded stores. live from the scene of the cleanup, sounds like a lot of people were frustrated they couldn't get in today. >> reporter: they were very frustrated. there was at least one store that had a lot of happy shoppers finally getting to pick up their beautiful jimmy choo shoes. for the most part what we saw here was workers. right on the other side of this orange car you can see one of them. their water damage restoration workers trying to get these businesses back in order. shoppers who showed up today near union square were surprised to find some of the luxury retailers like chanel still closed. some told us this is their second day trying to shop at these san francisco stores on geary street that were impacted. yesterday a construction crew working at the central subway project, they hit a water main, flooding the basements of these

stores. the main, it's now fixed, but firefighters worked for quite a while to help salvage what they could of this luxury merchandise and clear the water out. frustrating for shoppers who hoped it would all be a quick fix. >> closed all day. yesterday. so i was just wondering what time we can get in, second floor, we couldn't get in all day yesterday. >> reporter: the san francisco municipal transportation agency is building the subway. they apologized for the inconvenience and say they're working with city departments to help make the repairs. a spokesperson says a representative from the city was actually out here trying to take claims. the cost though is still unknown. i did check out -- live, these are the trucks down here that are helping to clean up one of the stores at least has a note posted basically saying at this point, they're closed until further notice. but the workers here who are doing the cleanup tell me they will be back tomorrow for another day.

the san jose sharks plan to hire ice girls to clean the ice during hockey games. they're already getting the cold shoulder from many fans. marianne favro live with reaction from fans. >> reporter: well, terry, this is where the team practices. you might imagine there are a lot of die-hard sharks fans here. frankly, their expectations are mixed. some say, what's the big deal? other professional hockey teams have ice girls. but others say this move would exploit women. the sharks want to hire a crew of both men and women to clean the ice. the men would wear a simple jacket. but the women would wear a midriff-baring shirt. while the uniform is more modest than the uniforms of other hockey teams, including the dallas stars, some sharks fans question whether the team really needs ice girls. >> we're there to watch hockey,

not watch scanty clad women. >> i think that's very unfair. if you're going to have women wearing revealing outfits, you should have gentlemen also wearing revealing outfits. >> reporter: some opposed to the uniforms have already started a facebook page called say no to sharks ice girs. they're trying to garner support against the move. the sharks' chief operating officer issues this statement saying, once all the final details are in place we're confident the final version of the ice team will be very tasteful and appropriate for the city of san jose and the sharks. however, some people are still so upset about it, they're encouraging others not to buy season tickets. but not everyone is upset about this move. more than 100 people have applied to be part of the new sharks ice team. crooked and closed. an experiment on one of the world's most famous streets here.

coming up what could be next for lombard street? it may be causing a rift among changing lawmakers. the changing demographics in california that may be fueling the affirmative action debate yet again.

today is the last day in a month-long trial program closing san francisco's popular lombard street to traffic on weekends between noon and 6:00. san francisco's crooked street, the crookedest street in the world as they call it, has been closed ever since late june. neighbors say the crush of visitors is just too much and traffic is a problem. city transportation leaders are going to decide if that experimental program is worth continuing in the future. the search is on for the person who stabbed a woman today at a san francisco bart station. police say the attack happened about 10:45 at the bart plaza at 24th and mission streets. the victim was taken to the hospital with at least one stab wound to the lower body. her condition has not been released so far. no information about suspects or motive. the affirmative action debate is heating up again. and now some say it's causing a divide in sacramento.

insiders say the contest has to do with the future of affirmative action. the rift involves latino and asian-american legislators within the democratic party. prop 209 banned affirmative action in 1996. the majority of students applying for colleges was white. nbc political analyst larry says latino lawmakers want affirmative action to be restored to benefit a growing latino population. >> there's so much internal pressure right now given the latino delegation and the asian-american delegation, if you will, over this issue. it's hard to know what's going to happen. >> one ballot measure to restore affirmative action almost made it to the november ballot but gerston says asian-american lawmakers shot it down. the issue is still under study. next california's drought emergency as the state considers tougher penalties for was water-wasters. >> the impact of dry weather on

one south bay industry. >> the weekend finishing on a warmer note. most places inland 12 degrees warmer than this time yesterday. livermore close to 90 outside. tomorrow we could see 100 degrees for parts of the bay area.

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hundreds of people gathered today in los altos for the arts and wine festival. arts and craftspeople from more than a dozen states displayed their works. it was quite packed. the festival included activities for kids and free concerts. several local wineries also featured their select vintages by the grass. a dry irrigation winery in the santa cruz mountains talked to nbc bay area about how the

drought is affecting their wine supply. >> we have another year of drought, we'll probably be dropping a third of our crop next year. because there won't be enough moisture in the soil to carry it over another year. >> the 35th annual wine and arts festival wraps up here as we speak. takes place every year in downtown lows all toes. >> you enjoyed it. >> it was great. >> do you have a favorite wine? >> i had the 3-year-olds with me. we weren't in the wine line, we were in the kids' area. rob mayeda, see if that kind of weather can keep on keeping on throughout the week. >> looks like it's going to. a little hot headed to monday. 60s and 70s outside for most of the bay area now. santa rosa 83. 75 right now. you've got high clouds now moving into san jose. a sign of things to come as we approach the forecast toward the middle part of the weekend. inland locations right now still

sitting close to 90 around livermore 24-hour temperature change for places like livermore, santa rosa, you can see a change from yesterday. high pressure is building in continuing to warm things up. even with the sea breeze which is fairly gusty in san francisco. winds at times up to 25 miles per hour. those winds onshore into livermore and concord. it will be a slow cool-down tonight as mat reason layer which originally was close to 3,000 feet thick on saturday is getting compressed down now west of san francisco. in fact, it's down to about 800 feet thick. even though we'll see some patchy low clouds across the bay, tonight we'll see warmer temperatures tomorrow as high pressure continues to strengthen heading into monday. what we're seeing outside is really a continuation of our typical summer-like micro climates around the bay area. 60s around san francisco, sunshine around the golden gate bridge, breezy pleasanton, 88, high clouds moving into the tri-valley. hot temperatures inland for today. if you think today was hot, the

warming trend gets going as we head into tomorrow. temperatures climbing very quickly as early as lunchtime tomorrow. the trend approaching noon into the 90s around san jose, out towards livermore. high temperatures tomorrow. likely 5 to 10 degrees warmer the area in pink. east bay climbing into the near 100-degree level. that will include pleasanton and livermore for the afternoon. heat the big story for tomorrow. then the story begins to change. towards tuesday and wednesday we will start to see cooler temperatures. the bottom of the screen. having to watch out for a chance of monsoon moisture bringing more clouds. that's mid and high-level clouds coming out south. at times, tuesday into wednesday, big-time thunder in the sierra. north bay, heading into wednesday morning, sonoma county, lake county, up towards mendocino county, there is a chance we could see scattered showers which we hope does not include lightning strikes given the drought conditions across northern california. if you don't get rain with those convective showers that can

throttle up the fire danger risk. temperatures will be cooling but humidity will be coming up a little bit as we head towards tuesday and wednesday. tomorrow, hot day around the south bay. 92 degrees in san jose. the trend will be cooler once we pass monday. the sea breeze begins to pick up. cools us off wednesday, thursday. san francisco tomorrow, you see the temperatures in the 70s. hottest places around the bay area tomorrow, tri-valley. triple digits standing out there around pleasanton, livermore. livermore temperatures spike at 100 for tomorrow. cooling into the 90s for tuesday. back into the mid to upper 80s for the middle part of the week. same trend should take hold for the north bay. we'll see temperatures cooling by about 10 degrees tuesday into wednesday. watch out, sonoma county, we could see a few hilltop showers and possibly convective showers which may include lightning strikes for part of the north bay wednesday morning. even as temperatures start to cool, we'll be having to watch out for fire danger concerns across northern california as we

approach wednesday. coming up, soccer fever right here in the bay area. >> see what the huge crowds that came together here to watch the final match of the world cup.

francens got a chance to week, week and play in the richmond district. part of the city's sunday streets event that has been taking place since march. the free events give people a

chance to get outdoors, have fun, learn about their community and neighbors. events are spaced out between fulton and lake streets. the next event will be on august 24th in the mission. football, international style. all the rage for thousands today near san francisco's city hall. fans gathered in civic center plaza to watch today's world cup final between germany and argentina for all the marbles. german fans had reason to celebrate when their team scored the game's only goal late in extra time. a 1-0 victory over argentina left german backers ecstatic. >> i thought germany play sod well. i'm just so happy i'm about to cry. >> are we sure he was a german fan? how can you tell? >> he's devoted. the beard under the makeup, you've got to respect that. >> 15,000 people showed up to attend today's viewing party in san francisco. >> it has been a month-long party in terms of soccer.

everybody watching. >> you know hoy just saw in the crowd? >> henry woufford was there. >> you weren't supposed to tell anyone, there was a reason i was late today. now my lie is no good, thank you for selling me out. >> i apologize. >> peggy, have a long talk with the man. >> i'll have a word with him. >> goodness, look out for you co-workers. giants put on a power display unlike any other in major league history. we have highlights from at&t park. plus we are in minnesota to begin the most comprehensive all-star coverage you can find. it's all next.

welcome back to nbc bay area. as today's baseball games are wrapping up the stars are heading to minneapolis for tuesday's all-star game. ahmed fareed is already at target field to begin our

all-star week coverage. >> the bay area's very well represented here at the 85th midsummer classic. ten players from the two teams, seven from the a's, three from the giants. that includes the newest member announced today. tim hudson. >> you know, this is a first of a season that, you know, i don't think me or anybody else really anticipated. so, you know, it's very satisfying. but -- you know, i just feel blessed to be playing, much less having an all-star-caliber first half. >> it's going to be fun. it's a huge honor just to get together and be a part of it. i am looking forward to it. it's going to be on lot of fun. >> i have no idea really what to expect. obviously it's going to be a lot of fun just being in that room with so many great players and watching cespedes and donaldson do the home run derby. hopefully i get to get in there for the game. but i really don't know too much of what to expect. i'm just going to try to sit

back and enjoy it as much as i can. >> the all-star game on tuesday. even the home run derby on monday is going to have a bay area flavor. junior donaldson and yoenis cespedes. cespedes won the whole thing last year. >> we're looking forward to that. comcast sports net and nbc bay area are your home for the most comprehensive all-star coverage you can find. ahmed will be anchoring our coverage all week on yahoo! sports talk live, sports net central, and here on nbc bay area. let's get to the diamond. giants and d'backs. giants looking for a series win heading into the all-star break. bottom fifth, bases loaded. buster posey. how about a grand slam to deep left and it's 4-1 giants just like that. next inning, bases loaded again. this time a pitcher, are you kidding me? mad bum, madison bumgarner hits

a grand slam to left, first time in history a starting batter, pitcher and catcher each homered in the same game. giants win 8-4. >> instead of playing for the opportunity to be up there and, you know, help us score some runs. so it's fortunate we happened to run into one. tried to get ready early. tried to just do something to help us. ended up being a home run. >> what a game. a's and mariners. this little guy not looking forward to the break. he wants to play cowboys out there. top of the fifth. tied 1-1. john jace singles to left field. andy parrino will beat the throw home, a's up 2-1. top of the sixth. brandon moss. homered yesterday, homered today. solo shot to right field, his 21st homer of the season, a's win 4-1. and the little cowboy kid is

happy all of a sudden, way to go. world cup final, germany and argentina. germany seeking their fourth world cup title. 113th minute. mario gotze finds the back of a net, one heck of a play, 1-0 germany. and that would be your final. they're the first european team to win the world cup in the americas. final round of the john deere classic. brian harmon going for his first pga tour win. on the par 4 9th, he needs this baby to roll 30 feet for birdie, got it, no problem. now harmon on 18, a tap-in for the win. he gets it. that allows him to compete in the open championship next week. terry, peggy, see you a little bit later with more highlights tonight. thank you for choosing nbc bay area news, "30 rock" coming up next.

>> are you sure you don't want to go to a real restaurant? >> no, this food cart is great. [baby crying] >> look at this guy. he used to be a man once. >> what is that supposed to mean? don't you want what he has someday-- family, wife, children? >> lemon, you're a woman. >> of course i am! that doctor was a quack. i don't even know why my parents listened to him. >> i need advice. elisa is coming by this afternoon to, uh, talk about us. >> ugh, ladies are such a bummer. >> where is this going? how serious are we? [as elisa] why don't you listen to my story about my friend? >> well, where is it going? ladies like to know what that next step is. they--we can't help ourselves. >> oh, believe me, lemon, i want to take that next step. >> you mean, like, marriage?